Mechanism for feeding elongated articles



C. A. HOY.

MECHANISNI FOR FEEDING ELONGATED ARTICLES. APPLICATION FILED APR. 5, 1929. 1,41 5,932. Patented May 16, 1922 41o.. 33 II@ I H1/@afar C. A. HOY.

MECHANISM FOR FEEDING ELONGATED ARTICLES.

APPLICATION msn APR. 5. 1920.

Patented May 16,1922

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C. A. HOY.

MECHANISM FOR FEEDING ELONGATED ARTICLES. APPLICATION FILED APR.5,1920.

1 ',41 5,9327. Patented May 16, 1922.I

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CLARENCE A. HOY, OF BUFFALO, YORK, ASSIGNOR TO PEERLESS HUSKER COMPANY, 0F BUFFALO, NEW YORK, A COPARTNERSHIP.

MEGHANISM FOR FEEDING ELONGAEED ARTICLES.

Appiication inea Aprii 5,

To all fw hof/n. :it may concern.

.Be it known that I, CLARENCE A. Hor, a citizen of the United States, residing in Buffalo, in the county of Erie and State of New York, have` invented, new and useful Improvements in Mechanism for Feeding Elongated Articles, of which the following is aspecification.

This invention relates to a mechanism for feeding elongated articles from a supply hopper to a machine which is to operate upon" the articles.

One of the objects of the invention is to take a heterogeneous mass of string beans or other elongated articles from a supply hopper and to feed or discharge the same in steady regular quantities with all of the articles lying in proper position relatively to A further object of the invention is, without bruising, to separate or break apart any of these elongated articles, which are either adheringr or fastened together. The specific object of the invention is to feed a regular quantity of string beans to` a bean shipping machine with the beans in parallel even order and to break the beans apart when more than' one bean is fastened to the same common stem. Further objects and advantages will appear more clearly in the following description and accompany ing drawings wherein- `Figure 1` is a fragmentary vertical section taken longitudinally of the feeding mechanism on line 1 1, Fig. 3. Figure 2 is a somewhat similar vertical longitudinal section but taken on line 2-2, of Fig. "3. Figure B is a vertical transverse section through `the feeding mechanism taken on line 3-j3, Fig. 1. i

Similar characters of reference refer to like parts throughout theseveral views.

`While the invention be varied considerably within the scope of the invention, the arrangement shown in the drawings has been found to be practicable and is preferred. In the arrangement illustrated, 1() and 11 represent, as best shown in Fig. an upper and lower pairof main frame memu bers or channel beams, the upper pair of beams being placed with its lower edge upon the upper edge of the lower pair. These beams are arranged longitudinally on either side of the machine with their webs disposed vertically, the fiatfaces of the webs of each pair facing inwardly toward each Specication of Letters Patent.

Patented May 16, 1922.

1920. Serial N0. 371,366.

otheigthe beams being suitably secured to gether by means of bolts 12 and by suitable upper and lower transverse tie plates. ,Se

cured 'by brackets or otherwise tothe frame beams is an lupright angle iron or supporting ost 13, to the upper end of which is suitav lysecured a laterally and inwardly extending horizontal brace bar 14. To the opposite end of this brace bar is secured ai supply hopper 15 which is adapted to receive a heterogeneous quantity of string beans or other elongated articles in just the condition in which they come from the crates or from the pickers in the field; that is, in a helter skelter fashion, with occasionally bunches of beans still fastened to the the outside of the bearing 17 and is rotatably' supported at its extreme outer end in an outer bearing 2()` which is formedv at the lower outer end of an overhanging bracket 21 whose `inner flanged end is suitably secured to the upright post 1 3. Secured to the inner end of this feeder shaft 18 is a cir cular feeder plate, head, or disk 22, the connection between said plate and shaft being preferably effected by means of a large massive lannular stiffening flange 23. Secured to the inner face of said feeder plate 22 is an annular or circumferential row of separator for alining bars 211 which extend transversely of the machine and are arranged concentric with and parallel to the feeder shaft 18. `These separator bars are spaced apart a uniform distance, the intery vening spaces being 1' ust sufficiently great to permit of the elongated articles passing `easily therebetween. It is obvious that the elongated articles which fall through beparallel to and concentric with the disk -shaped feeder plate 22 and is arranged to rotate therewith. It is through the hollow central part 26 of this feeder ring, that the vhereinbefore mentioned inclined chute 16 projects inwardly and thus all the string beans or other elongated articles which slide down said chute are dropped into the in- .and completely encases the lower portions of the feeder disk 22 and feeder ring 25. This container 27 is, in longitudinal section, of funnel shape so as to direct the descending articles in toward the center thereof, the articles 4falling into the upper open end of the cylindrical` casing or measuring chamis provided with a plurality ber 28 and onto a collector paddle wheel or measuringfwheel 29. The latter is mounted on a transversely disposed paddle wheel shaft. 30 which is driven in the direction indicated by the arrows, said power being derived in any suitable manner, such as by the vbelt chain arrangements shown in F ig. l.

Arranged below the open end of -the paddle wheel casing 28 is the upper stretch of' an endless article carrier belt 32 which of carrying buckets or pockets 33. Said carrier belt passes with its one end around a belt pulley 34 which is mounted on a transverse driving shaft 35, said shaft being suitably journaled in the lower channel frame beams 1l of the main frame of the mechanism. This shaft citfries, at its one outer end, a driving pulley 36. which is adapted to be belted to any suitable available supply of power for operating the whole mechanism. The opposite end of this driving shaft 35 carries a Sprocket wheel 37 which drives a belt chain 40. vIt is this belt chain that also drives respectively'a sprocket wheel 4l secured to the aforementioned measuring paddle wheel shaft 30 and also a sprocket wheel 42 which is secured yto the aforementioned separator shaft 1&3,v the slack or wear on the chain being occasionally taken up when requiredv by a sliding adjustable block 43 which carries a small tension sprocket wheel 44 that engages with the said belt chain. The main driving shaft also carries, at its one outer end ya comparatively small sprocket wheel 45, which drives a number of scraper shafts 46 by means of a scraper belt chain 47 and scraper sprocket wheels 49. Each of these scraper shafts'46 has secured to its central part a plurality of scraper blades 48, which ,rotate in the direction indicated by the arrows; the lower' blades moving backwardly against the advancing upper edges of the article conveying buckets 33 so as to scrape any articles off from the top edges of said buckets. It .is preferred that these scraper blades be rotated :faster than the measuring paddle wheel 29 is rotated.

It will be therefore evident that this improved mechanism for feeding elongated articles insures that the discharge of the elongated articles through the separator bars 24 will be regular in quantity and precisely parallel in position, irrespective of how loosely the said articles may be dumped into the supply hopper l5. The whole mechanism is very simple in construction and is readily inspected and cleaned, if any of the elongated articles should get jammed or clogged up in the mechanism, No special stock is necessary to the manufacturer of the mechanism and the same may be constructed at low cost.

I claim as my invention:

l. A mechanism for :feeding elongated articles to a movable carrier having pockets arranged transversely to the direction of movement of the carrier, comprising a plurality of closely-spaced separating and. alining bars arranged above said carrier and parallel with the pockets thereof and adapted to receive on their upper sides the articles to be fed and to discharge the same from their underside into said pockets in a position parallel with the latter.

2. A mechanism for feeding elongated articles to a movable carrier having pockets arranged transvcrely to the direction of movement of the carrier, comprising a plurality of closely spaced separating and alining bars arranged in un annular row above said carrier and parallel with the pockets thereof and adapted to receive on their upper sides the articles to be fed and to discharge the same from their underside into said pockets in a position parallel with the latter, and a rotary support for said bars turning about a horizontal axis.

3. A mechanism for feeding elongated articles to a movable carrier having pockets arranged transversely to the direction of movement of the carrier, comprising a plurality of closely spaced separating and alining bars arrange(L in an annular row above said carrier and parallel with the pockets thereof ancl adapted to receive on their upper sides the articles to be fed and to discharge the same from their underside into said pockets in a position parallel with the latter, a rotary head supporting one end of said bars, a ring connecting the opposite ends of said bars, means for delivering the articles to be fed through said ring upon the lower bars, and a` driving shaft ournaled horizontally and parallel with said bars and connected with said head.

4. A mechanism for feeding elongated articles to a movable carrier having pockets arranged transversely to the direction of movement of the carrier, comprising a plurality ci closely-spaced separating and alining bars arranged above said carrier and parallel with the pockets thereof and adapted to receive on their upper sides the articles to be fed and to discharge the same from their underside into said pockets in a position parallel with the latter, and a hopper for directing the articles from said bars to said pockets.

5. A mechanism .for feeding elongated articles to a movable carrier having pockets arranged transversely to the direction of movement of the carrier, comprising a plurality of closely-spaced separating and alining bars arranged above said carrier and parallel with the pockets thereof and adapted to receive on their upper sides the articles to be 'fed and to discharge the same from their underside into said pockets in a position parallel with the latter, a hopper which is arrangel'l to receive said articles from said bars and Which is provided With a cylindrical measuring chamber leadin to said pockets, and a rotary measuring W eel arranged in said chamber and turning about a horizontal transverse axis and having a plurality of blades arranged parallel with the axis of the measuring Wheel.

CLARENCE A. HOY. 

